Oil tanker’s 32 crew missing after collision
MORE than 30 crew members of an Iranian oil tanker were missing after the vessel collided with a Chinese freight ship in the East China Sea, catching fire and spilling its cargo.
According to China’s ministry of transport, the tanker, named Sanchi, hit the Chinese ship, CF Crystal, at around 8pm on Saturday.
The incident happened around 180 miles east of the Yangtze River Delta. Thirty Iranians and two Bangladeshis who were working on the oil tanker are missing. All 21 Chinese crew members of the CF Crystal freighter were rescued. The ministry said it was searching for survivors as the Iranian vessel continued to blaze.
“Sanchi is floating and burning,” it said in a statement. “There is an oil slick and we are pushing forward with rescue efforts.”
The tanker was carrying 136,000 tons of ultra light crude oil, equivalent to just under one million barrels and with a value of around £44million.
An Iranian oil ministry official was unable to say how big the oil slick was.